The Scarlet Letter essay: Why was Dimmesdale's Suffering Worse Than Hester's?
Argumentative Essay: The Scarlet Letter
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Mr. Dimmesdale’s greatest secret is his sin of adultery with Hester Prynne. Mr. Dimmesdale feared that his soul could not bear the shame of such a disclosure because of his status as an important moral figure in society. As a result, he keeps his identity a secret as Hester is publicly ridiculed for their act of adultery. Despite his choice of guilt over shame, Mr. Dimmesdale’s private self-inflicted inner turmoil that is exacerbated by the tortures of Roger Chillingworth, ate away at his physical being and mental state, causing much greater suffering than Hester’s public shame of the scarlet letter. Much of the suffering, physical and mental, that Arthur Dimmesdale endures is self-inflicted due to the immense weight of his guilty conscience. Fearing that he would not be able to bear the punishment from the public, he chose to remain anonymous in his sins. In doing so, he underestimated the amount of psychological torture and suffering he would endure by his own hand. By only confessing to himself, he does not fulfill the requirements of repentance, for there is no one to forgive him but himself. He does not allow his conscience to be cleansed, and therefore must live with his sins. His emotional pain leads him to inflict pain with a "bloody scourge", which he had often "plied on his own shoulders"(99). He inflicts great physical pain in addition to his mental torture. In the early Christian church, self-flagellation was imposed as a means of penance and purification for disobedient clergy and laity. In the bible, Proverbs relates that blows "cleanse away evil" and stripes wash the heart (Prov 20:30). He is trying to redeem and cleanse himself without confession, but this is impossible. Through this self-mutilation, he attempts to relieve his mental pain by inflicting self pain; he find this unsatisfying because he still neglects to partake in the most important aspect of
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Mr. Dimmesdale’s greatest secret is his sin of adultery with Hester Prynne. Mr. Dimmesdale feared that his soul could not bear the shame of such a disclosure because of his status as an important moral figure in society. As a result, he keeps his identity a secret as Hester is publicly ridiculed for their act of adultery. Despite his choice of guilt over shame, Mr. Dimmesdale’s private self-inflicted inner turmoil that is exacerbated by the tortures of Roger Chillingworth, ate away at his physical being and mental state, causing much greater suffering than Hester’s public shame of the scarlet letter. Much of the suffering, physical and mental, that Arthur Dimmesdale endures is self-inflicted due to the immense weight of his guilty conscience. Fearing that he would not be able to bear the punishment from the public, he chose to remain anonymous in his sins. In doing so, he underestimated the amount of psychological torture and suffering he would endure by his own hand. By only confessing to himself, he does not fulfill the requirements of repentance, for there is no one to forgive him but himself. He does not allow his conscience to be cleansed, and therefore must live with his sins. His emotional pain leads him to inflict pain with a "bloody scourge", which he had often "plied on his own shoulders"(99). He inflicts great physical pain in addition to his mental torture. In the early Christian church, self-flagellation was imposed as a means of penance and purification for disobedient clergy and laity. In the bible, Proverbs relates that blows "cleanse away evil" and stripes wash the heart (Prov 20:30). He is trying to redeem and cleanse himself without confession, but this is impossible. Through this self-mutilation, he attempts to relieve his mental pain by inflicting self pain; he find this unsatisfying because he still neglects to partake in the most important aspect of